Space Jam is an Isekai

                Usually this blog is a place to post about lessons I’ve learned, tinker with new ideas on a small scale, or post a comedic segment that makes me chuckle. Then there are the days where it’s a place for me to let loose whatever insane notion refuses to leave my brain: take a wild guess which of those today’s topic falls under.

                Now that expectations are properly established, let’s talk about mother fucking Space Jam. I was watching it a few weeks back online with friends, enjoying the ridiculousness of it all, when I realized something: I knew these story beats. But we’ll get to that momentarily, first let’s do a quick recap of Space Jam for anyone unfamiliar with the cinematic masterpiece of the 90’s.

                Michael Jordan, playing himself, is pulled into a cartoon world by the Looney Tunes who exist within a parallel space within the center of the Earth… that Warner Brothers apparently owns. They need help due to a team of aliens that have arrived with the intent of making them all features in a terrible theme park out in space. In order to win their freedom, the Looney Tunes must defeat the aliens (who have now stolen the talent of NBA stars) in a game of basketball. No, we’re not going into why basketball on the recap, you’re just going to have to watch it for the details. Anyway, Michael Jordan’s task is to train the Looney Tunes and help lead them to victory to save their world.

                With that done, let’s talk about Isekai, a genre you’ve probably seen drawn from more than you might realize. For the definition, I’m going to pretty much pull straight from Wikipedia, paraphrasing slightly for conciseness:

                “Isekai is a genre that revolves around a normal person from Earth being transported to, reborn or otherwise trapped in a parallel universe, fantasy world or virtual world. In some versions, the protagonist is depicted as being already familiar with the parallel world, as it is often a fictional universe from a fictitious work published in the protagonist's origin universe. It is equally likely the parallel world may also be unknown to them.”

                So yeah, that right there pretty much makes the case for me, doesn’t it? By that definition, Space Jam is already an Isekai. But that’s only the starter, baseline characteristics. There are other factors in the movie that make the connection even stronger.

                Gaming Skills: Oftentimes in an Isekai abilities that were seemingly useless in the real world, such as proficiency with video games or chess, become incredibly vital skills within their new world. Obviously this isn’t a perfect parallel, as skill at basketball is very much not treated as useless by society, however from a functional standpoint it still just a game. Basketball being the talent to save the day makes as much sense as knowing how to speedrun a old platformer. In Space Jam, basketball skill isn’t only so coveted that they recruit Michael Jordan for his talent, the aliens even go to the effort of stealing that skill from others. It does make one wonder why they didn’t just steal the comedy talent of the Looney Tunes and call it a day, but if we start pulling on this plot’s sweater the whole thing will unravel. Best to keep moving.

                Special Powers: A frequent facet of an Isekai is gaining powers within this special world. The ability can include things like raw physical strength, visions through time, enchanted items, or anyone who was a kid at the same time as me might be more familiar with the Digimon version of tossing in a magical pet. Space Jam tackles this via the cartoon rules that apply within Looney Tunes land. Wayne Knight’s character is blown up like a balloon and flown around the entire gym, which is still way less unsettling than what Michael Jordan does. He stretches his arm across the court to hit the basket, proving conclusively that it doesn’t matter if the game is against humans, cartoons, or even happening in reality: Michael Jordan fucking refuses to lose.

                Chosen Hero: We don’t need to harp on this one too much, it’s fairly clear-cut. Michael Jordan is quite literally chosen by Bugs Bunny to be the world’s defender. I’m not saying that Bugs is the god of the Looney Tunes universe, but his entire life is defined by coming out on top with almost zero effort. There is at least a case to be made for him as a divine entity who shapes the world to his whims.

                I don’t really have a big sweeping point to tie all this together with, those are part of the blogs with a bit more purpose. If we had to drill down on a lesson though, I think it would be how interesting it is the way different story-telling forms can overlap and lend themselves to one another. I don’t believe that Space Jam set out using an Isekai as the basis for their plot, which what makes it all the more fascinating that they made a pretty textbook definition of one. Maybe there was someone on the writing team who knew what they were steering into consciously, perhaps it was just unrealized influences leaking in.

                It just goes to show that the more story formats you familiarize yourself with, the more tools you have for shaping the tale you want to tell. Look at that, we kind of pulled a lesson together! Sort of. So long as you don’t mind a little court-long stretching.